The Non-Waiver Trade Deadline Has Come and Gone.....

and JB Sez he was right!!! Well, kind of right. Two days ago I posted that the Boston Red Sox should trade disgruntled Left Fielder Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in an attempt to get an outfielder and prospects in return. Well, Boston traded Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles as part of a three way trade which sent Pittsburgh Pirates Outfielder Jason Bay to the Sox and a bunch of players, including Brandon Moss, to Pittsburgh. As part of the trade, Boston agreed to pay the remaining $7 million of Ramirez's salary for the year. The Dodgers did not have to give up any of their very talent young prospects, and the Pirates, well the Pirates will suck with or without Bay.

Now, most people would argue that a contending team should try to improve their team at the trade deadline. From a statistical standpoint, Boston did not get better. Although their numbers are similar, Jason Bay is not Manny Ramirez. He's a quality outfielder that will do his best to fill the void by Man Ram, but it won't quite be what Manny gave to Boston. Now, on the contrary, Manny was being a pest. He was angry. He was rude. He was lazy. He was causing chaos amongst the Red Sox locker room and Red Sox management was tired of it. They had no choice but to trade Manny. Four years ago Theo Epstein made a huge trade to send an unhappy Nomar Garciaparra out of Boston. The Red Sox ended up winning the World Series thanks to that trade. Will this be deva vu all over again? We shall see, but in the end, the Yankees and Rays can breath much easier knowing that Manny won't be in a lineup to face them the rest of the regular season.

Quick question. Tell me, where Ken Griffey Jr will start in the Chicago White Sox lineup? Um, he won't? Yep, right answer. The White Sox made a deadline deal this morning acquiring the 600 homerun man and in all likelyhood, Junior will be a bat on the bench. The White Sox already have an outfield that consists of Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, and Nick Swisher. Not to mention, Jim Thome is serving as the designated hitter and Paul Konerko plays first. Now, Swisher is struggling at the plate this year and you may see Junior fill in at center once in awhile. Keep in mind that Junior is no longer a defensive presence in the outfield and is more likely a defensive liability. The bottom line is that Junior will not have a chance to win the World Series, something he has never won, yet along participated in one.

And as Shaquille would say, Hey Milwaukee, tell me how our ass tastes. Sincerely, The Cubs.

Quite possibly My 2nd favorite video on YouTube

MLB Trade Deadline is upon us........

and JB Sez that the one deal that has to go down before 4:00 p.m. eastern on July 31 is Manny Ramirez being traded to the L.A. Dodgers. Now, before talking about the deal, let me give you a little background on this. Manny Ramirez is not happy. He's pretty outspoken about it. He wants a new contract. He does not like how he is in the final year of an eight year deal with club options for 2009 and 2010. Boston has had not commented on whether or not they will exercise their club option and all indications are they will not. So what does Manny do? Well, Manny goes Manny. He allegedly fakes a knee injury and pulls himself out of the lineup last Friday in the 1-0 loss to the Yankees where Joba Chamberlain and Co. combined for the shutout. Manny returned for the final two games and has been in the lineup for the last two games versus the Angels. Tests down on Manny's knee showed no injuries. So, was that the final straw? If I'm Theo Epstein, I'm making this deal. Manny has publicly commented that he would not mind being traded and I'm sure Red Sox management and some fans are put up with this. Now, can you get equal value for Manny? Probably not, but the one team out there that can provide them the goods is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The likely scenario if the trade occurs would be Manny going to L.A. for either Outfielders Matt Kemp or Andre Eithier and some prospects. Boston may ask L.A. to throw in a relief pitcher, considering their bullpen is looking gassed at this time of the year. The key factor in all of this is Manny accepting a trade. Would Manny be open to playing for Joe Torre and reuniting with Nomar Garciaparra? In addition, Frank McCourt will have to be open to taking on more salary this year as the deal will likely result in an increase in payroll. Will the biggest trade since Alex Rodriguez went to the Yankees go down? Stay tuned.

I was also going to write tonight that the Anaheim Angels need to trade for Atlanta Braves first baseman Mark Texiera and just this afternoon the deal went down. Texiera was sent to Anaheim for 1B Casey Kotchmann and another prospect. The deal now gives Anaheim the bat they need to contend in the AL Playoffs this year. Anaheim appears to have the AL West all but locked up; however, their lineup was not nearly solid enough to compete in the playoffs.

Want a disgruntled outfielder? Well apparently Jose Guillen wants out of Kansas City. Sources close to the situation indicate that Guillen does not get along with Manager Trey Hillman and wants out. Guillen is in the first year of a three year, $36million deal that he signed in the offseason. I questioned this signing, as Guillen has always been a clubhouse cancer; however, GM Dayton Moore took a flyer on Guillen hoping he could provide a spark to a lineup and clean up his act. The spark has not really been there all year and its clear Guillen has not cleaned up his act. Good luck finding someone to take on Guillen, unless you are willing to eat at least half his contract. The Royals may also trade left handed relief pitcher Ron Mahay who has one year left on a two year, $8 million signed in the fall. Left handed RP's are coveted and the Royals should move Mahay if they feel they can get decent prospects.

YouTube Video of the Day

I will post daily videos from YouTube that I enjoy. This is my #1 video ever.